Renner
One meaning derived from German, signifying a runner or racer.
Name Census estimates that about 575 living Americans carry the first name Renner. It is a predominantly male name (94.8% of registrations). The average person named Renner today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Renner births was 2018 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Renner. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
575
~ 1 in 596,095 Americans
Peak year
2018
48 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,493
Tracked since 1904
Census
Renner in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 524 people with the first name Renner, which placed it at #19,926 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#19,926
National first-name rank
People counted
524
524 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Renner
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renner is White at 79.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.3%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Renner described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Renner at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.6% · 417
- Hispanic or Latino6.3% · 33
- Two or more races5.3% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 21
- Black or African American3.1% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Renner
Renner leans heavily male at 94.8% of total registrations, but 31 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Renner as a male name
- Ranked #3,493 in 2024
- 33 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (42 births)
Renner as a female name
- Ranked #15,262 in 2018
- 6 female births in 2018
- Peak: 1909 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renner leans strongly male. 473 people counted with this name were male (89.6%), compared with 55 female bearers (10.4%).
Popularity
Renner: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Renner from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 317 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Renner remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Renner by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Renner during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Renners live
Origin
Meaning and history of Renner
The name Renner is a German name derived from the Middle High German word "renner," which means "runner" or "courier." It dates back to the 12th century and was likely originally an occupational name given to messengers or runners who delivered messages and goods on foot.
During the Middle Ages, the name Renner was found primarily in the German-speaking regions of Central Europe, particularly in areas that are now part of modern-day Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It was a relatively common name among the working class and often associated with those involved in trade and commerce.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Renner can be found in a 14th-century document from the city of Nuremberg, where a man named Hans Renner is mentioned as a merchant. In the 15th century, a German priest and theologian named Hugo Renner gained prominence for his writings on religious reform and his critique of the Catholic Church's practices.
In the 16th century, a notable figure bearing the name Renner was Johannes Renner, a German mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of trigonometry. He was born in 1561 and is best known for his work "Opus Palatinum de Triangulis," published in 1596.
Another prominent individual with the name Renner was Johann Renner, a German philosopher and theologian who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. He was a proponent of Protestant theology and wrote extensively on religious topics.
In the 19th century, a German painter named August Renner (1799-1859) gained recognition for his landscape paintings and depictions of rural life in Germany. His works are celebrated for their attention to detail and realistic portrayal of the German countryside.
While the name Renner has its roots in German culture and language, it has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly through migration and cultural exchange. However, its historical significance and association with occupations such as messengers and couriers remain deeply rooted in its German heritage.
People
Renner + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Renner as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with R
Other first names starting with R with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Renner: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Renner?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 575 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Renner going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 596,095 US residents.
Is Renner a common name?
We classify Renner as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 597 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Renner most popular?
The single biggest year for Renner was 2018, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Renner is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Renner in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 524 people with the name Renner, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,926 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Renner in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Renner?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Renner leans strongly male. 473 people counted with this name were male (89.6%), compared with 55 female bearers (10.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Renner?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Renner is White at 79.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.3%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Renner most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Renner in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.6% (417 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Renner in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Renner a male name?
Yes, 94.8% of people registered as Renner in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Renner still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Renner in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Renner can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Renner?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.